Using mobile phones lowers odds of survival from brain cancer - study

Monday Feb 11, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- Dr. L. Hardell from University Hospital in Örebro, Sweden, probably the one and only brilliant epidemiologist who discovered a strong association between long-term use of mobile phones and elevated risk of brain cancer, has now found that use of mobile phones and cordless phones can reduce the odds of survival in patients who had been diagnosed with brain cancer.

Hardell and M. Carlberg published a new study in Neuroepidemiology suggesting that using mobile phones can reduce the chance for a patient with a major brain cancer to survive.

They found patients in the highest tertile of cucmulative use of mobile phones were 20 percent less likely to survive from glioblastoma, compared with those in the lowest tertile.

Additionally, they found using wireless phones including mobile phone and cordless phones was associated with 10 percent increased risk of death from glioma. With more than 10-year latency, the increase was 20 percent.

Also using wireless phones including mobile phones and cordless phones was associated with 10 percent increased risk of death for astrocytoma grade IV (glioblastoma). With greater than 10 year latency, the increase was 30% although the odds of survival from astrocytoma grade I-II (low-grade) was increased by 50%.

Both mobile phones and cordless phones had similar detrimental effects on the survival odds in patients with brain cancers.

The case-control study was based on data from 1,251 patients with a brain cancer diagnosed between 1997 and 2003 who were followed from the cancer diagnosis to the date of death or until May 30, 2012.

The researchers concluded "Decreased survival of glioma cases with long-term and high cumulative use of wireless phones was found. A survival disadvantage for astrocytoma grade IV, but a survival benefit for astrocytoma grade I-II was observed which could be due to exposure-related tumour symptoms leading to earlier diagnosis and surgery in that patient group."

A growing body of evidence suggests that using mobile phones can increase risk of brain cancer. Here are a few tips people can use to mimimize the risk from the modern communication technology.

1) Try hard to avoid using mobile phones;

2) If you have to use, use it as briefly as possible;

3) Do not use mobile phones in rural areas where more power is needed to deliver a voice or text message, which means the user will be exposed to more radiation; Use mobile phones only in areas where signals are strong;

4) If you can, use text messaging instead of voice messaging;

5) Buy and use mobile phones with lowest radiation only; The mobile phone radiation from one phone can be up to 7 times higher than that from another;

6) Use an earphone and a mic together with your mobile phone if you can.

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